Airen's Adventures: A Frog's Journey

Airen's Adventures A Frog's Journey Growing up I had a rough childhood. I never met my mother or father. I was abandoned as a tadpole and grew up in the village orphanage. I was weaker and slower than the others – they were sure to remind me of that every day. I was not dexterous enough to spear a fish and I certainly did not excel in any feat of strength. What I did have though that many of the others did not was the ability to assess most situations and come up with unconventional solutions quickly. When I did this it usually ended up with one of the others being embarrassed, which is why I generally spent most of my days alone exploring the marshes. Each year I would venture further and further away from the village. During one of my outings I ran in to a young lizardman around my age. I was intimidated at first – having grown up hearing stories of how foul and cruel they were – but after watching her for a while from a distance I could see myself in her. I approached her, introduced myself and the rest was history. Itza and I became the best of friends. We would often explore the marshes together and would teach each other things. She taught me how to better wield my spear and I taught her everything I learned about herbalism. We also taught each other our native tongues. It was easier for me than her, but with tons of practice she could crudely speak bullywug. Life was great when we were together – that is until her father discovered that the boy she had been spending all of her time with was a bullywug. Apparently she had told her family that she had fallen in love. Her father insisted he meet the boy she spoke of and accompanied her to our usual meeting spot. As I was approaching them she pointed towards me and her father became extremely irate shouting at the top of his lungs. He hit her and dragged her back to their village. I tried to follow, but could not keep up. I returned to our meeting spot day after day, but Itza never returned. I eventually gave up any hope of seeing her again. I started exploring past the marshes now. I ended up discovering the town of Portlandia. Such an amazing place full of such interesting people. I never wanted to leave! I eventually found myself in the potion shop – owned by Mave. I was just browsing his wares out of curiosity when he noticed my incandescent moss hanging from my spear. He tested my knowledge of herbalism and then gave me my first job! He commissioned me to find herbs for him. I would return to his shop every day bringing in herbs to sell. It gave me a purpose. Mave eventually let me read his books on herbalism – and would allow me to observe him making potions. One evening, several years later, an interesting man entered Mave shop. He was an elven man of average height and extremely fair skin. He wore an elegant – shimmering robe and wielded a staff made of crystal. There was something special about this man – I was drawn to him. I followed him out of the shop, out of Portlandia, and all the way to his home several miles away. I approached his door to knock, and as I did it swung open. There the man sat – in a rocking chair - in front of a fire place – smoking his pipe. He knew I was following him the entire time. He invited me in. Uhurad Balybrin was his name. A great adventuring wizard. Since discovering Portlandia and seeing magic first hand I had become fascinated by it. I asked him question after question and with each one of his responses my curiosity only generated more. We spent hours in front of that fire. For weeks I would return to his house each night. He never ran out of stories to share. Taking a liking to me he eventually offered to teach me magic in exchange for helping with general upkeep! I was so excited, but it was a lot harder and a lot more work than I was anticipating. Eventually it became easier and I learned that I had an affinity for spells within the Conjuration school. Uhurad even taught me elvish. Every moment that I was not collecting herbs for Mave or learning magic from Uhurad I was reading through his elven books. I hardly ever returned to the marshes at this point. I basically lived at his home. I had never seen anyone else visit Uhurad, but one night upon returning he had a few visitors. These visitors seemed to be adventurers as well, and had a weary look to them. Conversation was light that night and the mood dark. Uhurad turned in early – something he never did. After cleaning up I eventually went to sleep myself. I awoke to an empty house. Attached to the interior of the front door was a note addressed to me. I figured it was only a matter of time before he would take off on another adventure – he is a great wizard after all. I spent the next several weeks moping around in his home. I had spent most of my time with this man and now I was alone – lost one might say. I finally pulled myself together and headed back to Portlandia. Mave was in desperate need of some more herbs – he had become reliant on my steady supply and it had been weeks since I had brought him any. I explained what had happened, apologized, and promised to bring him what he needed at a discounted rate. While I was searching through the woods for some herbs that might be useful I was delightfully interrupted by that crazy cat lady, Jade, and the odd birdman, Krykh, that I had met in Portlandia several weeks ago……..

While I was searching through the woods for some herbs that might be useful I was delightfully interrupted by that crazy cat lady, jade, and the odd birdman, Krykh, that I had met in Portlandia several weeks ago. Shortly after they showed up we were again joined by a band of leprechauns, strange magical little creatures, who were out and about celebrating a holiday called "st patricks day". They told us about a parade their friends were having, and after the cat dashed off I figured I would join the chase. We were interrupted several times by some rowdy leprechauns who were I guess meant to slow us down, some kind of bet as to how long it would take us to catch up, but eventually made it. Once we joined the parade we were instantly compelled to dance! It was fun at first, but after a while I couldn't stop, something was "forcing" us to dance. I guess when I stumbled in to the water it disrupted the spells hold on me, and I was able to stop the music which broke the spells focus. By this point we were at the end of a rainbow. I had never seen the end of a rainbow, but it was quite magnificent. We were rewarded with some emeralds and a bracelet in exchange for some 4 leaf clovers + shamrocks we had found along the way from the leprechaun leader. Now thinking back we should have investigated further as to why the leprechauns were forcefully leading travelers along, but I was too distracted with these marvelous emeralds and escorting the dryad back to her home. By the time I had returned the rainbow and the leprechauns were no where to be seen. After experimenting that night I was able to learn some new magic. Unseen servant. I believe he shall be quite useful to our adventures.

One night while in town Kryikh mentioned that he had flown over a mysterious house, and was interested in checking it out. Curious, we began investigating in town where we heard many stories of how this place was haunted and should be avoided. Additionally, we were also told that the family who used to live there used to transmute gold! While I normally am not too interested in transmutation magic - being able to create gold must be powerful magic which intrigues me. Normally I would not believe such stories, but we were told by Mave, a potion shop owner, who I do continued business with selling my herbs. Mave also told us of an elf ranger, Mitel, who we recruited to help us investigate the "abandoned" house. Mitel in turn also helped us recruit Jaxon, a cleric, who was also interested in investigating the area due to the strange isolated weather. Additionally a man of his order had ventured there several weeks ago and had not yet returned. Together we ventured to the manor by boat. As we got closer and closer to the manor the weather became worse and worse and we had to shore early. Luckily Jade was able to find a scale-able path in the cliffs. As we were approaching the house Kryikh was scouting ahead and was struck by lightning! I would have thought he was wise enough to avoid flying in a storm. I know birds have small brains, but I thought that kenku were different. We immediately retreated back to town as Jaxon was not able to cure such significant wounds. Apparently he was trying to defend a winged cat from a bunch of giant mosquitos. I didn't see it, but Jade did so I know it wasn't just Kryikh's brain being fried from the lightning strike. Eventually Kryikh healed, but some nerves were beyond repair causing him to lose his ability to fly. He has been extremely depressed. I can only imagine how horrible it must feel, but I hope that with time he is able to fully recover. Several weeks after our first excursion we returned to the manor. Just as the stories had said it seemed haunted/abandoned. While investigating the outside of the house we encountered giant ants and some goblins. We were able to take them out, but I realized that I really need to practice with my spear! I missed almost every attempt to hit! We also encountered Ned, the "grounds keeper," who kept trying to persuade us to leave. Clearly he was lying. No one had done any maintenance to his place for a significant number of years. It was in shambles. I have a feeling that "Ned" might actually be the winged cat in disguise. I don't trust him and will be keeping a close eye on him. With Ned we broke in to the house, which of course he doesn't have a key for (another reason to question his claim of groundskeeper), and begin investigating the house. I have an eerie feeling about this place, but we will press forward.

While we were continuing to investigate the mansion Batalia heard something outside. Before I knew it she had disappeared, and when she returned she was accompanied by a strange looking dwarf and elf. They seem to have been commissioned to keep people out of this place just like Ned, however they seem to be slightly less suspicious. They must not have been paid very much, because as soon as Kryikh pulled out a gem the dwarf seemed to have lost all allegiance to his employer and wanted to join us in our efforts. Some sort of sellsword no doubt. The elf was not so interested in the loot, and seemed quite annoyed with his dim witted companion's lack of loyalty. I believe he was wise however realizing the situation and that his safest option would be to continue forward with us. He seems rather timid and I shall keep a watchful eye on him as I am still unsure of his true intentions. After some interrogation from both sides we decided to continue on through the house. We fumbled about through multiple rooms where we encountered a small swarm of extremely large rats. Jade cleverly scared some of them away while Kryikh and myself disposed of the others. I offered the rat to Jade since I know cats usually enjoy a nice rat from time to time, but she seemed to be insulted. Perhaps she would enjoy fish from the swamp more. One of the rooms that we encountered was actually a grand library. So many interesting books! There surely must be some valuable knowledge among these books, however until we finish investigating this place to ensure we are safe the books will have to await our return. Eventually we came across a set of stairs which seemingly led down to the cellar. We decided that it would be best to further investigate this floor before moving on.

After deciding to delay our decent down the stairs just past the kitchen until we have fully cleared the first floor of any threats, Sandoval cleverly rigged the door to hopefully prevent anyone from ambushing us. At the very least it will hopefully alarm us if someone does try to open the door. Once the door was secured we ventured off to the south east finding what seems to have been a dining room in this place's former years. Only having one window and one door this would appear to be a safe place to rest. We however decided to move forward with investigating the house as none of us feel quite safe here. We move further to the south east finding 3 doors. The room we chose to enter was similar to the others in that it had several windows, a fireplace, and was in terrible shape. Upon further investigation Sandoval discovered a trap door beneath the rug in the center of the room. It was locked, but with what seemed to be no effort at all Torvald ripped the door off its hinges. Down the hatch we were able to see a set of stairs, and what seemed to be torchlight meaning that someone is either down below or was here recently. In an effort to scout ahead we sent Fergul who has the the ability to become invisible. He was fearful, but knew the importance of the feat and proceeded. About half way down the stairs a horrid voice belched out welcoming us to our deaths and then continued to laugh maniacally. Myself and some of the others were overcome with a terrible fear, a magical fear, and immediately fled. Whether this was some sort of magical trap or a powerful wizard we have yet to find out. After recouping our composure Sandoval and Torvald led the way down the stairs where we were ambushed by 2 pirates. We were able to successfully defeat these men without significant injury, however we believe we heard a door slam.... a third perhaps.... seeking reinforcements. There is an additional room attached to the one we were in that seems to be the quarters of someone fairly important and a room boarded off with the words "danger" written across it. As we were looking for hidden exits that the third pirate could have fled from, since the other "warning" door was boarded shut, we came across some interesting items. Kryikh found a mysterious locked box under the bed, Sandoval discovered a wooden box which contained what seemed to be a signaling kit for boats, and I found a series of books. Whoever lived in this room had a broad interest in reading material. An erotic poetry book, a naval book, and two mysterious books which i sensed to be magical. I eventually discovered a secret door while we were looking for where the possible third pirate ran off to. Beyond the secret door we found the missing cleric. What was left of him anyways. Not realizing the severity of the situation Jaxon tried his hardest to heal the cleric, however it was clear he was dead. During this the insects that were feasting upon the cleric latched on to Jaxon and began to burrow in his arm. Having dealt with all sorts of carnivorous insects within the swamps I know that most of them are fearful of heat, and I immediately bring my torch to his arm. I was successful in removing the insects, but I am afraid I have badly wounded him as the smell of flesh burning filled the room. Even so, with his arm burned, all Jaxon could focus on was his lost friend. I left the room to make Kryikh and the dwarf aware of the situation, and upon returning it seems that Ned has confirmed my suspicions and attacked Sandoval. Torvald and Sandoval were able to subdue Ned without killing him, but he does not seem to want to divulge any information still. For now Ned is our prisoner. By now whoever has fled this place is surely long gone or on their way back with reinforcements.

After interrogating Ned we are still unsure of his ties with the owner of this place or the pirates. Unwilling to kill him or send him away to possibly alert more pirates we decided to keep him close. Kryikh seems to be strong with enchantment magic - in order to lessen the threat of Ned he used his magic to charm him just as he did with Fergul. Hopefully Ned doesn't end up sticking around long... his mustache creeps me out. We decided upon exploring the last 2 rooms on the first level before barricading ourselves in a room and resting for the night. The rest was well needed even though I didn't sleep very well. It was hard to sleep with the thought of more pirates returning on top of the eeriness of this place to begin with. After resting I spent some time memorizing my spells before we decided to explore the second story of the mansion. Immediately after getting to the second story our interests were peaked by a set of broken stairs that led up to what seemed to be servants quarters. After figuring out how to get most of us up the stairs and exploring the few rooms we were attacked by stirges. One of the stirges managed to latch on to my arm while I was attacking his buddy, and I couldn't pull him off. As much as I disliked having my blood sucked by an overgrown mosquito I disliked having to dodge Sandoval's and Jaxon's weapons attempting to kill it. Luckily Kryikh seems to be fairly skilled with his staff and was able to smash it. Once the stirges were exterminated we heard a faint - feline - thank you coming from outside. This reminded me of the flying cat that Kryikh was trying to help before being struck by lightning. A talking - flying - cat surely peaked my curiosity as I have never seen such a creature. I have read stories of wizards who have had other magical creatures as familiars - perhaps it belonged to the illusionist who seems to be involved with the pirates we killed below. I tried to catch it's attention unsuccessfully before being pulled away to check out the rest of the house. After exploring the servants quarters we hopped back down to the second level where Torval was guarding. During the time we were up stairs he believes he heard voices coming from the first floor. We continued to search the second floor being cautious - limiting our noise. We noticed some tracks on the floor which led to a window facing the ocean. It appears that this is where the pirates were signaling the others with the lantern that we had found. Perhaps we will find out after we explore the rest of the rooms.

As I was trying to get the flying cat's attention the others spot a bull like man outside. Sandoval and Torvald head down stairs to investigate further while Kriykh and myself keep watch on the bull from above. After some defensive conversation from both sides it was concluded that the bull man, Kaz, heard of the alchemist who used to live here and was in search of a new holy symbol who's worth would better represent his devotion towards his god. I stated that the alchemist had long passed, but if he helps us clear out the house of any theifs *as I pointed towards the broken window* who have broken in to our home we would rummage through the old alchemist's belongings which we moved to the cellar below - any holy symbol found would be his. Kaz agreed and we began "searching for thieves". We checked two more rooms on the second floor where we found some diamonds and a magical pearl. The second room we searched was inhabited by several giant spiders which were quickly dispatched. We then proceeded down to the cellar through the trap door which seems to have been left alone where we again encountered the magical trap relaying to us how we shall all die this time. Undeterred we proceeded down the stairs where we were greeted by pirates. We killed all of the pirates, but not before interrogating one where we were able to discern that Sanabel is in fact the mage who is leading these pirates. Still curious about the "danger" room we proceeded forward where we encountered a group of skeletons who re-animated and began attacking us. We were able to send them back to their graves, and then Sandoval discovered what they were guarding through a trap door. It was very clear that the pirates had no knowledge of this room for if they had it would have been empty. What lied before us was what we believe to be the long lost corpse of the mysterious gold creating alchemist. The legends seemed to be true as we discovered several objects that had been turned in to solid gold. What incredible magic. While I am not always fond of transmutation I surely can respect the skill that it took to pull something this incredible off. Kryikh was overly ecstatic. Usually I can understand him when he try's to speak - his voice just enters my mind, but this time he was just wildly moving around from one object to another squawking repeatedly. We all were able to find items of value - whether monetary or magical and decided to rest a while in this room. While we were taking a light rest some of the party looked a little further in to the hallway where they discovered that there was a trap door that led back up to the library. Clearly this was the alchemist's own little get away. I wonder if we had not found this place if it would have been lost forever.

As I was delving in to this new book I found I was alerted by one of the others that there were pirates in the other room. After walking out there were 2 dead gnolls lying on the floor as well as 8 pirates in a line and they were looking for a fight. We were in their “hide out” after all. They got some good shots in, but we were able to take them out. Again Kryikh amazes me with his martial prowess. Perhaps he was a skilled warrior in a past life. After checking the pirates for any valuables / information we noticed light coming from the corner of the room, through the wall, perhaps where these pirates came from. It led to a hallway which looks like it had been hand dug. Clearly this is how the pirates have been freely moving in/out of the mansion. A little ways in we encountered another small group of pirates who looked surprised to see us. We quickly dealt with the first few and sniped out the last who attempted to flee down another hallway on the other side of the room. In this room there seems to be caches of war supplies. We continued further in to the cave where we encountered a terrifying series of saw blades circulating along the corridor. Having encountered several magical traps already I assumed it was merely another illusion, but after the others made several attempts to bash the blades they seemed real enough. Eventually the others were able to “disarm” the blades and we were able to pass through. The bull and our newly found druid friend were quickly drawn towards the moon/sunlight coming from the west while I scouted the path to the east. I was enamoured by what seemed to be a fiery creature who quickly scurried off further into the cave. I alerted the others of its presence, but the bull and druid were more interested in going the other direction. While they were arguing I sat down, leaned against the cave wall, pulled out my book, and began reading in protest.

WARNING: LONG ASS POST AHEAD While Beartram and Kaz went to play in the pond I continued reading through my book staying mindful of the direction where I saw the flaming creature. After a while they returned claiming to have come across a herd of animals who live in the cave. Beartram, feeling a connection with them offered to dispatch of the pirates that have been disturbing their home. As we regrouped and began to move forward I was immediately drawn towards an array of lights to the south and began dancing while moving towards them – following the flickering image I saw before. All of the different colors… they were entrancing - That is of course until another damn pirate cut me with his blade. Instinctively I pierced him with my spear, pinning him against the wall, while Torvald dealt the final blow. It seems he is quite quick to react in dangerous situations. At this time the flickering creature dissipated – it now clearly seems to have been an illusion created by Sanabel. As we investigated the remainder of this chamber it seems to be a dead end, and we began back tracking towards the torch light. As we were doing so a gust of wind swooshed from behind us knocking out any light source around, I was blind. Instinctively I immediately began fumbling through my backpack trying to find my flint + tinder to re-ignite my torch while asking Torvald what he sees – having read somewhere that dwarves have impressive vision in the dark. At this time it appears that several gnolls began to encroach upon us. It sounded like the others in our party began shooting arrows at them, but I couldn’t be sure as it was still pitch black, that is until our new druid friend cast some magic on a rock – illuminating the area. At this time I became entranced again with an array of magnificent colors. They were so beautiful and exotic I couldn’t help but to gawk at them – completely forgetting about our current predicament. Once they faded away I was able to see that the others were already well under combat with some gnolls, pirates, and Sanabel – clearly another one of his spells. It seems that they also were under some sort of spell as most of them stood there motionless – only their eyes moving side to side watching us as they were hacked down. It seems Sanabel also fell under this spell as the rest of the party was able to tie him up. To prevent him from being able to cast any more spells on us Sandoval shoved a piece of material in his mouth, and I grabbed his pouch of spell components. We interrogated him and got some information – such as Thoma (current house owner) is aware of their presence here, and that the time to signal the ship is in 2-3 days from now. Other than that he kept trying to sweet talk his way in to being set free (who could blame the guy – it was pretty apparent he would die otherwise). Growing tired of his attempts to persuade us in to setting him free I pierced his heart with my spear pushing off of him with my foot to pull it back out ending his life. At this point some of the party began investigating this room where there seems to have been several more weapon caches as well as other items of interest while the other half of the party, including myself, pushed on through the hallway. There we dispatched of another small group of pirates and discovered additional caches of weapons as well as what seemed to be the sea entrance to this place. It makes sense now – as the tides rise (the times we found on the notes before) this area becomes accessible allowing the pirates to smuggle the goods covertly. After examining several weapons amongst the cache I detected one of the tridents as being magical. I spent some time examining it – attempting to use my spellcraft to identify what type of properties it might hold – and had no success. I began to put it away when I heard a voice inside my head – this time it wasn’t Kryikh. My initial thought was that Sanabel was not the only magic user working in this operation – but surprisingly this trident has a conscious of its own. Apparently eager to show me its power it suggested we go “fishing.” Without thinking twice I took it with me and dove in to the water. It had been a while since I had moistened my skin so the dip in to the ocean was quite refreshing. After swimming out several yards we came across a school of fish who seemingly stopped and turned towards us – unusual since schools of fish would generally see me as a predator and flee. The trident then asked me what I would like the fish to do – amazingly enough he was able to command them. I told him to allow the fish to carry on. After returning to the surface to catch a breath I dove back down again and used the trident to hunt a larger fish – it has been a while since we have had a fresh meal and I can’t think of anything better than a fresh fillet o’ fish. It was incredible how easily it cut through the water. It would normally take me dozens of attempts to spear a fish while under water, but this spear seemed to be unaffected by being in the water. An amazing artifact indeed. It turns out that the trident prefers to be called Fisher, and has agreed to accompany me for now. As I returned once again to the surface I noticed our new druid friend, Beartram – still transformed as a bear, looking at me curiously from the ramp. I assured him that I was ok and just wetting my skin – as I offered him a big chunk of my catch before storing the rest. While I may tell the others of Fisher in time, I am keeping this to myself for now. Believing that we had cleared out all of the pirates, a few of the others and I were interested in exploring the few remaining rooms that we had not checked yet. We pressed forward as the others continued to search through the cache of items below. The first room that we checked seemed to hold nothing of importance. I tried looking out the window towards the ocean, but was only able to see the trees and the starry sky. The second room we entered we encountered several weasels. It seemed that this is where they had been living. Normally I would have just killed them, but respecting Beartram’s affinity with the animals we decided to take the less lethal approach. As we were leaving the room I left the weasels the remainder of my fish I had just caught as an apology for disturbing them. The next room we entered seemed to be used for storage. Tons of crates, bags, and even a chest or two were storing items. We spent a good amount of time going through the containers and found a few interesting items among all of the regular household things - a decent amount of coin, a helmet which seems to be magical, and a cursed fucking broom. After sensing magic from the broom I continued to investigate it further – having read about wizards who flew around on magic brooms, I figured I would see if it would be something that could help Kryikh out. UNFORTUNATELY, I found what was apparently a command phrase. Of course I had to try it out – uttering the words “lets fly baby” – which caused the broom to fly me in to the ceiling, pound me to the ground, and then begin swatting me in my eyes. If it were not for Torvald securing the damn thing it probably would have killed me. How is that for a headline? Brooms Aren’t Only for Sweeping Floors or Swatting Flies – THEY WORK ON WIZARDS TOO! My next impulse was to burn the damn thing. If it weren't for remembering how depressed Kryikh was about not being able to fly I probably would have – perhaps he has more knowledge on such items and can control it. The last room we entered was also unfortunate as it seems to have been a perfect climate to grow yellow mold – dangerous stuff. We then decided to check out a wall that seemed slightly different at the end of the hallway. After all of us checked it out we determined nothing was off about it, and headed in to the library to rest / browse through some more of the books.

Having explored the remainder of the house and taken out Sanabel the party decided to rest as we awaited the right moment to signal the pirate ship off the coast. It seems what 'haunted' this place was Sanabel's magic as all eeriness seems to have dissipated. During this rest period I was able to spend some time reading "The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers by Mage Tenser". Some very valuable information on different types of herbs and applications for them! Kriykh decided to head in to town with Jaxon to stock up on supplies before we attempted to signal the pirate ship - or so that's what he said. I believe the real reason he wanted to head back to town was that he was afraid of breaking the philosopher's egg - he handled it so carefully - obsessed over it really... I even thought I heard him call it.... his precious. We all have our obsessions I suppose. In this rest period I was also finally able to accumulate enough herbal components to summon a familiar. I performed the ritual, such a costly one, and waited. After waiting for a while I waited some more. I had waited so long that I began to doze off and have strange dreams - one after another. When I awoke I was greeted by a odd creature, a faerie dragon. Apparently the dreams I was having weren't dreams at all, but rather an intrusion of my mind. This faerie dragon was drawn to the magic of my ritual and had cast a mysterious spell on me. Some sort of test - seeing how I would react in different situations - to judge my character - to see if I would be a worthy companion. I passed his test. He disclosed this to me once I awoke and offered to make a bond with me - warning me that this bond would be forever - and that I should think twice about it. I was enthralled by this creature - such intelligence. Without hesitation I agreed to his bond and we connected - on some....other level. It is as if he has become an extension of me... or perhaps I became an extension of him, Rhubarb that is - Rhubarb is his name. During this time it seems Torvald and and Kaz were arguing about what to do with the weapon cache while Sandoval went off in to the woods. They all agreed that it should be disposed of in some way, but were unsure of how to do so without it falling in to the wrong hands. Several ideas were discussed and then I suggested that we dump them in the well above where jade dispatched that snake - I hope she just continued on her quest to find her master and wasn't kidnapped by the pirates. We eventually agreed on that option and Kaz/Torvald hauled them up and disposed of them. Not too long afterwards we encountered a group of orc's. In an attempt to intimidate the orc's I casted mirror image on myself - making our party look much larger than it really was. We ended up killing them off. Kaz grappled the last one while Torvald interrogated him. During that time I became surrounded by another group, lizard men this time. Oppressive as always they attempted to bully me in to giving them my weapons. Of course I refused and began attacking them as there seemed to be no alternative. Oddly enough they ended up retreating. Unusual for lizard men. Not really wanting to have fought in the first place I chose not to pursue.

Today was a restful day. I spent the morning catching up with Mave who let me know of some lizardmen who seemed to be trying to buy weapons + potions in bulk. My guess is that since we threw the last shipment down the lizardmen are looking for alternate sources to supply their cause. I am itching to get back out to that boat as well as to pay Vessik a visit - it feels like they are prepping for some sort of war. As much as I would love to rush in to investigate these things I know this trip in to town is necessary for us to prepare - who knows what we might encounter. After visiting the potion shop I ran back in to Sandoval who brought me to meet some gentlemen. It seems he is trying to convince them to give us a reward for dispatching the pirates. I have no interest in the reward - I am only interested in unraveling this plot which could potentially be harmful to the bullywugs or Portlandia - although I wouldn't say no if they offered it. They seemed to agree on paying us a reward if we were to bring them the ship or large caches of goods - they were particularly interested in Fisher, but I have no interest in selling him. Upon agreeing to terms I headed in to the port to take a swim. I was beginning to become a bit dehydrated so it was extra refreshing. After my swim I sat at the edge of the docks reading Tenser's book on herbalism as I waited for the others to finish their business in town.

Warning: Another Long Ass Post - (I wanted to be fairly detailed so that Hans / Kryikh could see what they missed) After preparing ourselves in town we headed down to the beach. While there we came across some priests of Poseidon who were trying to ward off sharks as there have been multiple attacks recently. Disturbing thought considering that we are about to venture off in to the water – good thing I have made a new companion in Fisher. Kaz then stumbled upon a corpse of a half shark half man. I have never seen one before, but Fisher seems to believe that they are evil and spend their time trying to corrupt the balance of the ocean – something to be cautious about and perhaps revisit later. Sandoval pulled out several of the shark teeth, believing that they could be fashioned in to some lethal arrows, and then Kaz threw the body back in to the ocean. There were a few people visiting the beach, and having just heard of the shark attacks I warned them of the danger before heading off to prepare. Once we discussed our plan we decided to depart a little before midnight. Torvald went back to town to recruit the blacksmith’s son/daughter to assist us as the rest of us prepared. Upon returning to the beach the people that were playing in the water before we left were huddled around the corpse of one of their friends. She was bitten by a shark and less than a 1/3 of her remained lying in front of us. I suggested that they put up signs to warn others to prevent the same from happening. One of them seemed to be receptive, but the others were intimidated because I was a bullywug – I suppose they have had encounters or heard stories of my more troublesome kin. I didn’t see a point to continue any further and turned towards the boat. As we were about to depart the priests of Poseidon blessed us and our boat. Mitel and Fergul went off to the mansion where they would signal the ship around 2am – hopefully drawing out some of the pirates from “the ghost ship.” During this time we rowed out to sea under the veil of the night sky attempting to stealthily board the ship. Kryikh’s familiar proved useful in scouting the deck which allowed us to determine that the pirates did in fact react to the signal – sending out a crew of 8 pirates with some cargo towards the shore. Several miles out I dove in to the water and speared a fish in order to release blood in to the ocean. I was attempting to lure in predatory ocean creatures that Fisher would be able to command to assist us in our assault on the boat. I suppose I should have asked Fisher if it was within his capabilities before I attempted such a crazy idea – but after realizing what I was doing he explained to me that even though he can control sea creatures within 120’ once we left the water the control would be broken. My bright idea ended up being… not so bright as I noticed the shadow of what seemed to be a large shark approaching. I immediately swam back to the boat apologizing to the others explaining to them that I attracted some sharks and telling them to avoid the water. As we approached closer to the ship Kryikh took flight – it seems that he was able to unearth the knowledge needed to repair himself from the books in the library, although not to his full prior capabilities – and casted a magical sleep upon the scout in the bird’s nest. This allowed us to approach the ship. I slid in to the water and conjured up a ladder made of cloud. As we ascended upon the deck the pirates did not notice us as they were looking towards the shore. We coordinated our attacks using hand signals and quickly disposed of the pirates on deck without making too much noise. During this time Rhubarb followed Kryikh’s familiar to the mast of the ship where he tied the boot laces of the pirate together and dropped his bow in to the ocean. Once the pirates on the deck were taken care of Sandoval skillfully maneuvered up the mast and took the life of the pirate in the bird’s nest so that he wouldn’t be able to “sound the alarm.” Worried that more pirates might have heard us - I barged in to the closest room, and signaled the others to follow. Kryikh disagreed – believing we should go through a different set of doors, but seeing as how I had already opened the door I wanted to clear it out. The first two sets of doors simply led to the boat’s kitchen and store room. I noticed the sausages hanging, and seeing as how I hadn’t eaten all day I grabbed one to snack on while I loaded some rope in to my pack. As we opened the third door we encountered what seemed to be the sleeping quarters of a group of lizardmen. Our presence alone did not awake them – but there seemed to be something nested on the wall that awoke them. Trying to avoid another battle and conserve some spells I tried another bright… yet not so bright idea. I pretended that I was sent in to the room to grab them – it was time to take the cargo to shore and they were late! Some of the lizardmen seemed to be receptive, but a few of the others did not like receiving orders from a bullywug. After my attempt to intimidate him in to complying failed I casted mirror image – completely filling this already cramped / crowded room surrounding the hostile lizardman in an attempt to further intimidate him in to compliance. This obviously did not work as he honed in on the true me and slashed me pretty good. Sandoval then attempted to convince them to go along with my plan throwing around Vessik’s name, but again the few lizardmen that were hostile would not back down. We ended up killing the 3 – and had a conversation with the other two. During our conversation with the remaining two lizardman we uncovered that the reason the lizardmen were attempting to acquire such a mass quantity of weapons was to defend their people. Apparently the sharkmen of the deep have been plotting to invade inland which would be bad news for everyone. I then asked why they did not just go through the proper channels to bring in the weapons through the port instead of smuggling them in with these pirates. The sissy lizardman, an ambassador for his people, stated that they had tried to purchase the weapons in town, but were denied so they went through an alternate route to supply their people. I sensed that their intentions were true and completely believed them. We came to an agreement that they would assist us in taking over this ship – at which point we would bring it in through the harbor / decide what to do regarding the weapon cache. They both agreed. We now are headed back towards the deck to rejoin Kryikh and the others – while Torvald keeps a close eye on the two lizardmen.

Excellent write-up, Chris. Recommended reading for Hans, and Gray -- the part after Gray left is where they enter the Lizardmen Quarters. The conclusion paragraph really helps moving the game forward! The conversation with the lizardmen. I'll respond more and issue XP in the Journal thread & after you have time to finish editing-adding pictures. Wanted to respond here just to let you know I read the story so far, and it's a good review up through today's session.

Journal Notes 6/2 Session: Kriykh can keep his damned charm magic! As we were headed to regroup with Kriykh I attempted to replicate his charm magic on these lizardmen as a precaution. I believed them.... but I wanted to be 100% certain they would be no threat. The damn spell backfired on me and caused some sort of amnesia! The last thing I remember was exiting on to the main deck and then.... I was sitting next to the wheel which was being piloted by what I can only imagine being a pirate captain, due to his appearance, yelling out "dead ahead". I looked down and no bindings... am I dreaming? Was there perhaps another illusionist on this ship? I see Sandoval straight ahead... Airen: So Sandoval... I am conducting a study on short term memory in stressful situations. Would you be so kind as to partake in my study? Imagine that I knew nothing of what happened since boarding the ship. Describe to me the events that occurred leading up to this very moment.... ***thinks to self... hope he falls for it***

Journal Notes 6/16 Session: The pirates which had originally headed towards the mansion were returning. When I noticed them I had another "bright" idea to sink their ship with the aid of a shark which had been circling us. Clearly it was a bad idea as I failed at several attempts before being thrown from the shark only to swim back to the ship. Intimidated enough though at the site of their ship being taken over and having seen their comrades at the mansion hacked to pieces they agreed to sail the ship back to Portlandio if we allowed them to leave freely before we arrived. Seeing as how none of us had knowledge of how to operate such a vessel we agreed. We continued searching throughout the rest of the ship where we found several mention-able artifacts - a spellbook and a magic cauldron. We also found a few books that might hold some valuable knowledge for some of our future adventures and for SOME reason Sandoval kept trying on women's clothes. I am not sure this counts as being a "master of disguise." To each their own I suppose. As we were rummaging through the ship we discovered a false door where Oceanus, a sea elf, was being held captive. Apparently he was trying to investigate the operations of these pirates as his people thought the supplying of weapons tot he wrong people could cause imbalance to the ocean's "ecosystem."

Journal Notes 6/23 Session With most of the ship cleared out and the top deck seemingly under control we headed down to clear out the bilge. Dark, damp, and foul is how I would describe it. Unable to see I lit a torch. I was surprised to see sand, water, and mounds of what seemed to be trash. Oceanus explained that the sand / water was used for ballast in order to keep the boat afloat. Of course the dwarf noticed the chest at the other end of the room – blitzing over – opening it which disturbed the 15 or so “drowned undead” that were scattered around the bilge. Kryikh and I inched towards each other, meeting back to back, blasting the ones closest to us with spells while the others seemed to be able to entrap the majority of them on the other end. Jaxon, Kaz, and Beartram joined in after hearing Kryikh’s call for help. We were able to take the foes easy enough, but the stench was unsettling. I vomited, just a little bit, and Torvald was lucky enough to be the recipient of some “beard sauce.” We re-visited the chest which of course was locked. Kryikh failed at picking it – *what kind of mage picks locks? It would be nice to have someone around who could help with such things – perhaps we could find someone who would like to accompany us when we return to Portlandio* Torvald then proceeded to bash in the lock until it gave in. Inside the chest were the remains of what seemed to be a Merchant captain – perhaps the previous owner of this ship. Additionally we found a Brooch of Protection which contained a picture of what would seem to be his family, a finely crafted cutlass, the title to the ship, and a map which plotted areas where this “merchant captain” stored his wealth. Meanwhile on the top deck one of the pirates seems to have signaled someone off in to the distance while the captain wiggled himself free from his binds. Rhubarb didn’t notice this at first, but it was apparent after an unusually strong buffet of wind hit the ship knocking himself and Strix out of the crows nest. It seems to have been the air bender we have been unintentionally following returning to rescue the captain. The air bender and the captain took off on what seemed to be some sort of whirlwind / waterspout. As they were almost out of site and seemingly ascending in to the clouds Rhubarb noticed something fall from the sky. Curious as to what it was I immediately hopped in to the ocean and once again mounted a shark which swam out to what ended up being the corpse of the pirate captain. It seems he was of no further use to the air bender. I directed the shark to swim back to the ghost ship – dragging the captain’s corpse along with his arm between its jaws – attracting other predators as we swam by.

Journal Notes 6/30 Session The remaining pirates kept to their word. They got us close enough to Portlandio to be towed in before abandoning ship and parting ways. Hopefully they will have listened to Jaxon and taken on a new path within the church - unlikely. Once in the port it was amazing how many people jumped in line with their hands open - demanding a cut of the goods. First we had to cough up almost all of our gold just to get towed in! I can only imagine the exorbitant costs of operating a large ship on a consistent basis! The local militants then claimed half of the weapons on board for themselves for "strategic military purposes". At this point I was just so exhausted that I didn't care. I just wanted to hand over the ship, eat a good meal, and sleep..... for at least 14 hours. After the militants took their share the lady sheriff and her deputies demanded a 10% tax on the ship and anything we had in our possession. Her and Torvald did not get along in the slightest. Unable and unwilling to front the 10% tax I suggested that they retrieve a representative from the trading company who contracted us to return the vessel. The representative paid the sheriff the necessary taxes and offered us a hefty bag of gold as our reward. We probably would have taken the bag and been on our way; however, we were boarded by another kenku, Horukh, I believe was his name. He seemed rather wealthy and was particularly knowledgeable on dealings regarding ships and the ports. He helped us negotiate a better rate and we ended up receiving 3 large bags of gold for our troubles. What does one do with so much wealth? I am sure Torvald will have no problem spending it. Even though our transaction with the trading company was complete for now, and they had paid the taxes for the ship and its contents the man-handed lady sheriff still demanded a 10% tax on our personal belongings. I found this to be a bit absurd. Not wanting to deal with this nonsense anymore I leaped off the Sea Skimmer once more in to the port and headed over to Mave's to see if he had any special requests. It seemed that he had just received a big shipment of supplies and would be fine for a while. After catching up with Mave I headed to the Merry Mermaid Inn figuring the first thing Torvald would do after being handed three giant bags of gold would be to go and spend it all on ale and whiskey. Sure enough there he was, drunker than ever, accompanied by the rest of the crew and the fancy bird. The band was playing such a lovely tune - I was overcome by the need to join in - so I whipped out the accordion that I have been carrying around for so long. It was only my second time playing it so I thought I would sound pretty horrible, but everyone seemed to be smiling and enjoying me playing it. Maybe I am just a natural? Who would have thought? After finishing a few songs I sat down and joined the others at the table. It seems that the party was torn on what to do next. Torvald - in his drunken stupor - seems to have forgotten about the immediate threat of the sharkmen - all he kept talking about was killing orcs. Perhaps after he has had time to sober up he will come to his senses and help convince the party to investigate the lizard king and their impending conflicts with the sharkmen.

Journal Notes 7/7 Session After some long discussion and general bullshitting the fancy bird was kind enough to not only pay for our drinks, but also pay for our rooms. After reaching my room I drew a nice hot bath. I must have been exhausted because I awoke many hours later and I was still lying in the bottom of the tub. Some well needed rest indeed. After pulling myself together I headed down stairs and to no surprise there was Torvald at the bar inhaling ale after ale as if he were a fish inhaling water. We discussed what to do next and agreed to pursue the lizardmen in hopes of finding out what is going on. It seems so many people have so many different perspectives on the whole situation - I don't know what to believe at this point. The fancy bird who has been generous to us seems to want to explore the outside world and asked to join in our venture. He does not seem like he could provide any assistance in a fight, but he sure understands negotiations. Perhaps he will be useful when speaking with the lizard king. Sandoval also returned from his outings around town, and he seems to have recruited some half-elf acrobat to join us as well - why? I don't know... perhaps he just wants to impress her and show off his... bow. She is kind of cute after all... for a half-elf that is. Once we had all gathered we prepared ourselves and headed in to the swamp to the east. Not too far out of town we ran in to the lizardman samurai again. He was persistent in trying to convince us to assemble an assault on the sharkmen immediately. Still unsure of what the hell is going on we needed to get more information - so we opted to continue towards the lizard king. All along the way fancy bird would not stop asking questions. Sometimes he would start another question before his previous one even ended! There has to be a spell that can silence him! I am surely going to spend some time researching such a spell the next opportunity I get! Annoyed by his constant squawking we didn't even notice a group of hostile giant frogs surround us! Mora, our new acrobatic friend, lunged out towards one of the frogs that attacked her and ended up falling face first in to the swamp. Luckily Sandoval and Mitel are good shots and were able to kill off the closest frog before it smothered her. It took a few more blows back and forth before the remaining frogs fell, but in the end everyone seemed alright... other than fancy bird. It seems to have been his first combat encounter, and he seemed to be in some short of shock. Even in his state of shock he and Torvald had the bright idea of chopping up the frogs for meat... do they not care that I am also an evolution of these creatures? They are my kin to some degree. I walked away, wanting no part in it, as Torvald began hacking away - encouraged by the fancy bird. Perhaps I will offer to prepare our next meal once we get to town... next on the menu? Fried chicken.

Journal Notes 7/14 Session While the others were busy butchering the frogs we just killed I went off to pick some herbal "seasoning" for their party. Apparently while I was doing so they encountered a band of ogres. Thankfully they were successful in fending them off and were able to return to the town. Fancy bird began preparations for the cookout and I gave him my offering of cascara sagrada, a natural laxative, to be used as seasoning. I figured I couldn't stop the cookout all together, but at least I might deter them from eating frogs in the future. It seems that being adventurers has also strengthened the party's stomachs as no one seemed to have gotten sick, yet. I can't say the same for the remainder of the town though. I better go use the facilities before the line starts...

Journal Notes 7/21 Session Again we ventured in to the swamp. It seems something has disturbed the balance as the swamp seems to be brewing with various aggressive encounters. Perhaps it is just that I am not traveling in a larger group that is attracting all of the attention. We encountered some large crocodiles, and the Samurai lizardman again. He of course wants us to take up arms with the sharkmen as soon as possible - we were able to convince him to guide us to the lizard king by making the point of "the sooner we visit the king the sooner we can deal with the sharkmen." We will be meeting at the edge of the swamp in a few days. In town everyone was making their preparations. I can't believe the contraption fancy bird was talked in to buying... in no way will it help him in the swamp. At least he had time to have another suit made.

Journal 7/28 After finalizing our preparations we headed in to the swamp once again - this time with the aid of the lizard samurai and Oceanus, the sea elf. We trudged on for hours with very few problems - only the one in my ear - all of fancy bird's questions about every thing he sees. It seemed that we were making good progress when we were ambushed by a number of forest trolls. While the group was engaged with one of these foul beasts another surprised me from behind! After taking a few of his blows head on I could feel the sweet - cold - whisper of death reaching out to me. Fearful for my life I casted a new powerful yet untested spell - wall of gloom - which was able to ward off the troll - with the assistance of Rhubarb - long enough for my companions to come to my aid. Fancy bird even proved quite helpful using some of his holy powers to heal my wounds. I must be more aware while in these swamps. The next ambush could be my last.

Journal Notes 8/3 While gathering ourselves after encountering the trolls Gray appeared out of nowhere, acting as if he had never been away from the party. Awkward, definitely, but I have always found Gray to be odd. It seems to be something him and fancy bird have in common, must be a Kenku thing. After reuniting with Gray we consult with the Lizardman Samurai as to which direction to head next. We headed north along the road. I made it a point to stay within 5 paces of Torvald since having a close encounter with death after the troll attack. A ways up the road we were ambushed by several squads of Bullywug accompanied by a handful of Mudmen - an unintended effect of my poisoning of the town. I attempted to reason with the Bullywugs, I should have known better, they were too interested in acquiring our valuables and guarding their hoard. It is probably a good thing that we have such a large traveling party otherwise we may have been overwhelmed by their numbers alone. I feel as if I am beginning to master this new gloom spell - as I again used it to split the battlefield. Torvald proved to be my protector, deflecting the Bullywug's attacks, keeping me from harm. Fisher seemed to thirst for their blood - noting that these creatures are quite evil and chaotic. After some extended combat we were able to finish off the last of the ambushers, and were able to locate their hoard of treasure they unintentionally mentioned they had near by. They must have ambushed dozens of travelers over months if not years to accommodate such a stash. There were masses of gold, rubies, jewelry, and several Ioun Stones of all things! Ulhurad, my mentor, had told me stories of such stones - imbued with magic to enhance their owner's abilities. I also came across a small ebony statuette of a fly - sensing magic within it. My first inclination was to eat it, but I did not want to dig it out later - I have dealt with enough excrement for one day. I then remembered back to that wretched cursed broom... and how it had a command word. Wincingly, remembering all of the hundreds of bristles whacking me in the face, I uttered the word Fly while gripping the statue. Poof - a giant fly appeared. We appeared to have a limited mental connection, and it listened to some basic commands. Of course my natural reaction was to hop-aboard and take flight! It seems that flying isn't all that easy. I took quite a few tumbles - luckily landing in the swampy waters. Gray and the others had quite a laugh seeing me struggle - joking about my tendency to want to ride various beasts. As with most things however, practice makes perfect. Our connection grew and I began to make the necessary adjustments needed to stay coupled while in flight - that is until - poof! - it returned back to a statue mid flight - sending me in to a thicket of vines and branches. It seems that the item's magic only works for a period of time before returning to its original form. I will have to keep that in mind for the future.

Journal Notes 8/11 Further along the road towards Laffite we came across another military man, a lieutenant - Winsome, who was looking for someone. He was looking for an oriental female warrior named Mubio to take in for questioning on behalf of Che Won. Since none of us were able to provide him any assistance he continued on his way.  Again, further along the road towards Laffite we encountered an enormous flock of birds - again more eyes watching us, bringing back memories of a childhood superstition.  Shortly thereafter Sam encountered one of his old acquaintances, Sanvar, a lizardman who insists on referring to himself in third person. He kindly invited us to his cave and offered us a meal and a place to rest. There we were able to convince him to guide us to the lizardking in exchange for helping turn the "biggest lizard" good. It seems he is being influenced by an evil shaman. Torvald and Sanvar seem to have taken a liking to each other. They both seem to be comparing themselves to each other, exchanging battle stories, measuring whose stick is bigger, and by the looks of that club I would have to say Sanvar wins.

Journal Notes 8/18 We ventured in to the town of Laffite. It seems that this place is either being protected or cursed by some sort of Kenku magic. Sandoval and Mora worked together to piece this together and WITH THEIR POWERS COMBINED... (sorry)... came to the conclusion that this Kenku magic was suppressing the will of the moon goddess - and eventually decided to disable it. Meanwhile we had learned a bit more about the oriental militia parties - it seems there was to be a wedding, but it got delayed for the time being... possibly forever. Torvald and Sanvar continue taking a liking to each other again constantly trying to measure whose stick is bigger. The party joined them on one of their ventures in to the swamp and we were attacked by a giant and his pet boar. The giant was quite strong, but luckily we had the advantage in numbers. In the course of fighting this foe I had sensed that the quills that I was summoning were being harvested from a creature near by. This is a first for me - I had always thought that I was conjuring from some far away place, but it seems that each time I use my magic it has the ability to alter the world around me.

Journal Notes 8/25 After seeing how scared the town people were of this story of ghosts in Wooley Swamp we decided to investigate. Surely enough just as the legend said we were "greeted" by several undead creatures as night fell. They weren't much of an issue, although Torvald seemed to have some trouble with the environment - falling in to quick sand. Eventually we found ourselves at the cabin where the old ghost was. Seemingly protective of his territory he attacked us - well mostly just Horukh. It was as if he was draining the life source right out of Horukh! Eventually we were able to put his spirit to rest with Mora dealing the final blow. Now that I think about it where was she all this time? I had not seen her until now - anyways I really think we need to take Horukh to some sort of healer - he doesn't look well.

Journal Notes 9/1 It seems that Mora discovered quite a haul of treasure during the fight with Lucious Clay. While looking through it all there was a jar of beans. I was so tired and famished that I swallowed them whole without thinking - otherwise I may have realized that these were no ordinary beans. Next thing I remember is waking up in the swamp cradled in Torvald's arms with extreme stomach pains - and that stench! - Torvald must not have bathed in weeks! After sorting through the treasure, taking Horukh to a healer, and discussing our strategy to enter the lizard colony we decided it would be best to head towards the south to meet up with the ex-shaman - to hopefully befriend an ally. On the outskirts of the colony we traversed a hill where we were attacked by an ogre mage! Luckily Mora got the jump on him otherwise it could have been fatal for some of us. I have heard stories of how powerful these ogre mages can be. After killing off the ogre Torvald discovered his huge hoard of treasure! What was this ogre stockpiling all of this wealth for?

Journal Notes 9/8 After the unexpected encounter with the ogre mage we decided it would be best to continue pressing on towards our objective of meeting the "shaman not shaman." From our vantage point on the hill we were able to discern that the lands were patrolled by platoons of lizardmen - however the ones that we saw weren't well equipped. We managed to avoid most of the patrols, but did end up defending ourselves versus a handful of them. Eventually we made our way through the thick terrain and with the guidance of Sanvar were able to find where the "shaman not shaman" lived. The colony was pretty incredible - reaching high in to the trees and low beneath the ground - they clearly have lived here for a long time. The "shaman not shaman" informed us of several other races that were also seeking an audience with the king in order to gain his support against the sharkmen. He recommended that we try and gather their support before visiting the king. We all agreed that it seemed to be the best course of action. The "shaman not shaman" provided us with an escort who guided us deeper in to the lizardman colony. On our path we were spotted by several guards who immediately fled to alert others of our presence. We were able to stop all but 1 - hopefully he doesn't show back up with an army. We finally reached the Koifishmen who seemingly wanted nothing to do with our cause, the Catfishmen who we were able to convince, and the Tritons who were all for it. Although they would not be able to visit the king with us - since they need to remain in the water - they were able to provide us with a gift from their people signifying their support. Having what we thought we needed we moved on coming across the dungeon - where we decided to try and recruit more allies - figuring the evil shaman may have imprisoned those who had tried to speak against him. Amazingly we found and freed an old friend of Sanvar - another lizardman. Additionally there were also several sharkmen in here already! Surely they must know a bit about the impending threat.

Journal Notes 9/15 After investigating the jail one of our escorts realized he had forgotten some of his paperwork back at Kriesss's residence and insisted we collect them before moving forward. Upon reaching Kriesss's I was surprised to see Horukh there - using his magic to heal some of the lizardmen's ailments. He claims to have returned to Portlandio to attend to some business - speaking some nonsense about being away for an extended period of time - truthfully I think he may have just fled after realizing the impending situation we would be in. At any rate he has decided to return and should prove to be useful. After reuniting with the party and repairing Kriesss's eyesight the shaman blessed us - although I don't feel much different. Now prepared and blessed we once again departed to request an audience with the king. We passed many rooms along the way - store rooms, barracks', and a kitchen which emanated the beautiful smell of charred meat. The party was drawn to the smell. After entering the kitchen there were several lizardwomen cooking for the colony and to my surprise the delightful smell was actually a sharkman that had been butchered and roasting above a fire. The cooks claim that they have been able to cook more and more sharkmen recently as they have been encroaching upon the colony. Horukh began passing out candy to some lizardman children that showed up and I became distracted investigating the herbs they had stored. After some conversation we continued on our way again passing several more rooms until stumbling upon a temple. Horukh curiously went to investigate and the party followed. Mora was immediately drawn to a lonesome chest - most of us stood by anxiously waiting to see what she discovered - as a huge explosion of gas knocked me unconscious. As I awoke I had flashbacks of the last time I awoke from being unconscious - held in Torvald's arms. I stood up, gathered myself, and realized that we were being attacked by several lizardmen. I started conjuring up a spell when I was overcome by Horukh's magical silence. I yelled out #&@&* @!&# fancy bird #*(#$ flying @#$#@ - but of course the sound did not travel. One of the lizardmen - easily the largest lizardman I have ever seen - dwarfing Sanvar in comparison - walked right up to me and wrapped his hand around my neck. I tried fending him off, but without my magic I was helpless - eventually being choked to the brink of death. Cold. Dark. Empty. Nothing. Warm. Fuzzy. Light. Jaxon, kneeling over me calling to Zeus for the power to heal my wounds. I thank him for his aid. It seems that the others have defeated the lizardmen - one of the escorts identified them as Vessik and his enforcer. At last he shall not be able to bestow his evil intentions upon anyone ever again, but I fear unless we deal with the shaman another shall just take his place. As I began to recollect the events prior to being choked out I remembered how Horukh's silence rendered me mostly defenseless. I leaned over to Sanvar and whispered in lizardman "Horukh's last meal was duck, aligator, and coconut shrimp! Have you ever heard of Turducken? MMMMM Tasty!" hoping that he would eat the fancy bird. I sat there "licking my wounds" as the party began searching the corpses and what seemed to be the shaman's quarters.

Journal Notes 9/22 After our encounter with Vessik it was time to press on to meet the king. On our way we were intercepted by another enforcer for the church of Zeus. It seems that Jaxon's presence was desperately needed back at the church - I wonder why? - this giant of a man was to take Jaxon's place in aiding us for the time being. This man - Swargen - was rather perceptive noticing the condition I was in and immediately used his powers to mend my wounds. Now rejuvenated we again began to press on. We eventually entered an incredible atrium that stretched several stories high and several stories below in a series of underwater caverns. Up above it seemed that the shaman was performing his ritual - supposedly increasing the power of the other lizardmen. To the sides there were several arenas where people fought to prove their strength. And in front of us a group of guards checking for the proper paperwork - paperwork that most of us did not have. Horukh was able to sweet talk his way past the guards claiming that some of our party were part of his staff while Oceanus and I snuck off in to the water searching for a way to allow our sea fairing friends to join the party. I sent Rhubarb with the others so that I could still know what was going on up above. Oceanus and I were having no luck in the caverns when Rhubarb informed me that Torvald and Swargen somehow got in to a fight in the arenas - versus two giant scorpions at that! Torvald swiftly dealt with one of them, but either through exhaustion or perhaps the poison of the scorpions they were struggling desperately against the second - nearly dying in the process. I immediately began looking for a way to rejoin with the others. Eventually they were able to take down the second scorpion, but Swargen did not look well - surely the scorpion's poison was having a toll. At this time quite an audience had gathered and one of the lizardmen in the crowd began taunting Torvald claiming how the scorpions were mere pets and weaklings compared to the lizardmen - surely a mere dwarf could not survive a fight with one of their champions. Rhubarb - playing to his trickster nature - casted ventriloquism on this spectator - "I shall fight you. I shall show you how strong the lizardmen are!" Of course this spectator was none other than the shaman himself! Not able to back down from his "statement" as the crowd had begun demanding to see the shaman fight - he entered the arena. Although Rhubarb naturally tries to avoid combat he feels the need to help out the party more after seeing Airen on the brink of death. Rhubarb used his magic to enlarge Torvald - increasing his power. In preparation for the fight the others also began using their magic to aid Torvald. With the entire colony so excited about the prospect of the shaman fighting it wasn't too difficult to sneak past and join the crowd as a spectator. The shaman began summoning tons of spirits to attack Torvald, but since they were evil Torvald was protected through the party's magic. This made it easy for him to charge in and take the shaman out in a couple of blows! By this time the party's magic had begun to wear off and the incredibly powerful spirit of a shambling mound began to attack Torvald. At this point the rest of the party began to aid Torvald, but it seemed that any non magical attack was rendered ineffective. Fisher was eager to battle such an evil creature, but I thought it would be wiser to keep my distance. Rhubarb and I released a torrent of spells at this creature while our new ally - Swargen - was able to bind it in place using the surrounding water. It took a while, but the spirit was eventually put to rest.

Journal Notes 9/28 Now free from the shaman's magic the king has started to re-gather himself. He seems like a reasonable guy and is potentially interested with our cause, but he is not a man to forget about the other lizardmen that we had killed. He demanded that we repay the colony in gold what their lifetime contribution would be. This wasn't too unreasonable of a request considering the circumstances... but who the hell has over 10k gold? Oh wait... Torvald =) In place of the monetary payment we offered our services and were contracted to hunt down a giant crocodile that had been taking out packs of lizardmen patrols. The lizardmen would not hunt it themselves due to crocodiles being sacred creatures to them. After trudging through the swamp for a while we finally came across this beast although it was not as strong as I had anticipated. Surely, I would never want to face such a creature alone, but with our powers combined the crocodile stood no chance. What was surprising though is that the crocodile was never the real threat - the real threat was the powerful dragon that was able to manipulate this crocodile. Surprising us he turned the very water we were drudging through into lashing flames. He tried to get in to Rhubarb's mind, but he was able to fend off the dragon's mental attacks. It took all of us fighting at our full ability to finally take this beast down - almost losing Mora in the process as she fell from the sky clenched within it's jaws. I had heard stories of dragons before, but this was definitely the first time I have encountered one for myself. What was he doing in the swamp? What was he protecting? Or scheming?

Journal Notes 10/5 Swargen insisted on harvesting the dragon claiming that the body parts he could salvage would bring the party great wealth. It was rough fighting off the dragon, but Mora - who took the brunt it's wrath almost seemed un-phased as she began hunting for the beast's treasure. After searching for a while we discovered an underwater cavern, and after communicating with some of the fish via Fisher we confirmed that this is where the dragon lived. Everyone was finally able to put some of their acquired gear to use - adapting themselves to be able to navigate through the waters with ease. Initially the cavern seemed almost empty other than the few common sea creatures, but we eventually ran in to some giant and monstrous gar. Scary beasts - long bodies, gnarled teeth, and powerful jaws all used for one purpose - feeding. We were determined not to be their next meal barely surviving. Blood churned in the waters - both theirs - and ours. I sent Rhubarb back to the surface to check up on Swargen and then I climbed up on the only platform I could find - some kind of altar it seemed - and tried to rest while the others continued hoarding the dragon's cache. I was just about to enter a deep sleep when Rhubarb alerted me of danger on the surface - aquatic ogres. I immediately responded heading back towards Swargen - alerting the others on the way. Mora moved swiftly through the water beating me there and quite amazingly assassinated one of the ogres before he was able to react. Now outnumbered the remaining ogres fell shortly after. Exhausted, hungry, and now over encumbered a long rest and trip to Portlandio is in order. First on the agenda - Mama San's Massage Parlor.

Journal Notes 10/12 We rested before we headed back to Portlandio, and during that time we discovered that this dragon had been keeping a member of the local military as a servant to tend to her garden. We were able to free him from his enclosure and escorted him back to Portlandio. When we arrived in town I ALMOST got lost... in such a short time it has grown so much. New housing, new shops, and new people. Portlandio sure is growing fast. The first order of business to attend to was a BroDate with Torvald at Mama San's Massage Parlor. I suggested the brown eye special for Torvald, but it seems he prefers just the basic services. I do love the swamp, but what frog doesn't like to get pampered from time to time? Afterwards I paid a visit to Mave to sell off some of the herbs I had collected, and to purchase some more potions. I spent a little bit of time helping him in the shop and paid close attention to how he performed his craft. Later in the week it seems Horukh has planned out another "party," and Swargen seems to have acquired himself an Inn! All great accomplishments, but I hope that our mission does not get lost in the fray. Additionally I heard about a conjurer in the magic school that had been experimenting with some new spells, and couldn't resist spending most of my time watching him, sharing techniques, and of course experimenting myself! The most interesting spell was one he named "Acidic Surge." A small bubble of acid is conjured and as the caster focuses all of his energy into this bubble it then explodes releasing a quick, and powerful surge of acid. I have attempted it several times, but haven't quite been able to fully replicate it yet. I even embarrassingly enough destroyed some of his furniture in the process.... I had to bribe Swargen to take a bit of time away from building furniture for the Inn in order to replace the pieces that I melted away.

Journal Notes 10/19 After attending to some things in town all of us gathered at Swargen's Inn for dinner. The Inn is surely coming together nicely - much better than the piece of crap it once was, but still a ways to go. While we waited for Horukh's cartographer to draw us a map to this "swamp base" of the sharkmen Torvald suggested that we keep busy and investigate a treasure map that we had discovered among Sanabel's belongings. Of course everyone was excited to discover what could be hidden there, and off we went! We eventually made it to where we were sure the map was, but nothing. Mora was intelligent enough to realize that perhaps the area was hidden by the tides. With her new "Manta Ray" powers she dove underwater and confirmed her suspicions - an underwater cave. We decided that it would be best to wait out the tide, and made our way inside once it became accessible. Sanabel clearly was using the tides as the primary defense of his treasure, but crabmen also inhabited this cave. The acted as more of an annoyance more than anything as they were obsessively attracted to any shiny metals that we carried. Torvald distracted some of them by throwing his favorite mug in the distance and Mora traded some silver with some others for some sea shell jewelry. Eventually however we made it to the end of the cave where we discovered a steel barrel. We expected there to perhaps be some hoard of treasure inside, but what we found was much more interesting. After some poking and prodding the barrel began to transform in to a giant lobster. After some more poking and prodding we opened the machine and inside there were two seats and a bunch of LEVERS! Mora and I jumped in and I immediately began pulling ALL OF THE LEVERS in rapid succession~! We backed in to the wall, almost attacked Swargen / Rhubarb, and eventually figured out what each lever did. It took a little bit of practice, but we were eventually able to learn how to operate this wondrous item and made our way back to Portlandio.

Journal Notes 10/26 Swargen asked for our assistance to investigate the sewers below his inn after the lizardmen Horukh had hired to clean it out failed to report back. I was going expecting to clear out a few rodents here or there, but it seems the remnants of the lizardmen whose plans we interfered with back at the colony came to seek revenge. I recognized a few of them as leaders of their respective parties in the lizardmen colony and the others seemed to be lowly followers. It was a tough battle - they clearly have seen a fight or two in their time. One of them used a particularly powerful magic conjuring dozens of beastly rats using the tune of his flute, another a strong - agile warrior, and the other a powerful caster. Several of us almost saw our last day thanks to their ambush, but with Horukh's and Swargen's healing magic we were able to stabilize. A scary thought that they were able to get so deep under the town unnoticed. Perhaps Torvald and Horukh can work with the town to set up some kind of defense to prevent future attacks from the sewers.

Journal Notes 11/3 Mora was able to prove everyone's suspicions. This wasn't simply a band of rogue sharks grouping together to create havoc these were an organized battalion of sharkmen troops! I could easily spot hundreds of them! I would not be surprised if their numbers were even in the thousands! It is a good thing that we did not try to sneak in alone with Sam the several months ago - surely that would have been how we met our end. Our attack deep in to the fort would not be possible without the support of all the allies we have made. Their assault on the outside provided enough of a distraction that we were able to sneak in ALMOST unnoticed. We must be careful moving forward though as this place seems to be riddled with traps. Mora has already suffered the reality of this, but fortunately due to her quick reflexes was able to notice / prevent it from being fatal... this time.

Journal Notes 11/10 AND SO IT BEGINS.... Laffitte honorably sacrificed themselves after breaching the walls with their explosive mechanisms. Catfishman sulking after being saved by the sea elves - many of his friends did not make it. We encountered the king... and Torvald cut off it's head! This is a great victory.... but we are still "behind enemy lines." The sound of more foes coming can be heard down the hall.

Journal Notes 11/16 Yes... The king is dead... But there are clearly other threats to Portlandio in this place. We must press on...

Journal Notes 11/23 Finally.... what seems like days later we were able to rid this stronghold of any threats to Portlandio. The shark king, his son, his water wizards, and commanders all fell to the combined efforts of the surrounding residents. It came at great cost, but surely less so than if they had taken the battle to us. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ04mfAY2BU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ04mfAY2BU</a>